Date: Mon, 23 Jan 1995 18:22:58 -0500 From: Babngltf@aol.com *************************************************National Gay and Lesbian Task Force NEWS RELEASE Contact: Robin Kane (202) 332-6483 ext. 3311 (800) 757-7736 pager Beth Barrett (202) 332-6483 ext. 3215 2320 17th Street NW Washington, DC 20009 ************************************************* NGLTF LEADS FIGHT THE RIGHT TOUR IN NEW ENGLAND Activists "In the Trenches" Build Skills and Study Right-Wing Strategies Washington, DC -- January 23, 1994 -- Two hundred activists attended Fight the Right training seminars sponsored by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) during the fall and winter. The four seminars, co-sponsored by local activist organizations, provided an opportunity for activists in Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont to gain valuable organizing skills and network with one another. In addition, the NGLTF Fight the Right staff has invited all gay, lesbian and bisexual activists to attend a regional conference in Boston, Massachusetts next month. The one day trainings focused on right-wing anti-gay activity on the national, state and local levels. Speakers focused on the larger Religious Right agenda through inclusion of attacks on non-gay communities and discussions on creating and strengthening coalitions with other activist communities. Activists were also instructed in "how-to" workshops on topics including lobbying, fundraising, media skills and movement building. "This is the hard daily work of the people in the trenches," said Fight the Right Organizer Sue Hyde, "and we're out there working with them." The training seminar, held December 10 in Burlington, VT was co-sponsored by the Burlington Women's Council. The event was an opportunity for Vermont activists to regroup after the state's long-standing Democrat controlled legislature shifted to Republican control after the recent elections. Local activists fear that the new conservative state legislature will attack progressive state legislation including same-sex adoption rights, domestic partner benefits and anti-discrimination legislation. Rhode Island gay and lesbian activists were close to passing statewide anti-discrimination legislation before being confronted by the first organized, religiously-based anti-gay campaign last year. Co-convening with the Rhode Island Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights, NGLTF Fight the Right staff hosted a training seminar November 19 in Providence to develop new strategies toward passing the legislation. -more- The October 23 session in Concord, NH focused on the vigorous organizing of the Christian Coalition across New Hampshire. The Coalition to End Discrimination, which co-sponsored the Fight the Right training, failed in its effort last year to enact a statewide anti-discrimination law that included sexual orientation, in part, due to a successful right-wing campaign against the legislation The Maine Lesbian and Gay Political Alliance, co-sponsors of the October 8 training in Brunswick, ME, will face a confirmed anti-gay ballot initiative this fall organized by Concerned Maine Families. The religious right group had previously failed to collect the needed 53,000 signatures in time for the 1994 election. The four Fight the Right seminars were made possible, in part, by a grant from the Haymarket People's Fund of Boston. An additional Fight the Right workshop will be part of the Northeast Citizen Action Resource Center (NECARC) seminar in Boston on Friday and Saturday, February 3-4. NGLTF staff will be on hand to lead a multi-issue training seminar and a regional roundtable for gay and lesbian leaders. For more information, contact NECARC, (203) 231-2410. -- end --